Veteran Satomi Suzuki Claims 100 Breaststroke Title at Japan Swim; High School Record for Tatsuya Murasa
Keeping with Japanese tradition, the women’s 100-meter breaststroke offered a tight finish on the second night of the Japan Swim in Tokyo. Clocking a time of 1:06.21, Satomi Suzuki emerged victorious, with Reona Aoki taking second in 1:06.44. Kotomi Kato was the third-place finisher behind a swim of 1:07.08.
Suzuki built a lead on the opening lap, splitting 30.80 at the 50-meter mark. That front half handed Suzuki a .15 margin over Aoki, and she was able to add to her lead down the closing 50 meters. Suzuki has been a longtime presence on the global scene, highlighted by silver medals in both breaststroke events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
The men’s 200 freestyle produced a Japanese high school record, thanks to 17-year-old Tatsuya Murasa posting a time of 1:45.67. Murasa’s performance was more than a second faster than the 1:46.96 of runnerup Tomoyuki Matsushita. On the women’s side, the 200 free was won by Nagisa Ikemoto in 1:58.14.
Always a strong event for Japanese athletes, the men’s 200 butterfly went to Genki Terakado in 1:54.73. Terakada was the long swimmer to crack the 1:55 barrier and was followed to the wall by So Ogata, who recorded a time of 1:55.34. Finishing third was Takumi Terada (1:55.52). The women’s 200 fly was won by Yasuki Fujimoto in 2:09.10, which was slightly quicker than the 2:09.38 of Hiroko Makino.
Taku Taniguchi won the men’s 50 breaststroke in 27.18 and Miki Takahashi topped the field in the women’s 50 backstroke in 28.10.
